CVE-2010-5241
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMultiple untrusted search path vulnerabilities in Autodesk AutoCAD 2010 allow local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse (1) dwmapi.dll or (2) IBFS32.DLL file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .dwg file. NOTE: the provenance of this information is unknown; the details are obtained solely from third party information.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceAutoCAD 2010 contains untrusted search path vulnerabilities where the application loads DLL files (dwmapi.dll and IBFS32.DLL) from the current working directory rather than secure system paths. A local attacker can place a malicious DLL with these names in a directory containing a .dwg file; when AutoCAD opens the file, it loads the trojaned DLL with elevated privileges, achieving local privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 2010CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed AutoCAD versionOpen AutoCAD, go to Help > About AutoCAD, or run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.0" /v Version' (adjust registry key for 32/64-bit)Affected if The version shown is exactly 2010 (R18.0)
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Locate directories containing .dwg filesSearch for recent .dwg files on the system using 'dir /s /b C:\*.dwg 2>nul' or check common drawing folders like Documents, Downloads, or network sharesAffected if DWG files exist in world-writable or shared directories where other local users could write
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Check for suspicious DLLs in .dwg directoriesIn each directory containing .dwg files, check for the presence of 'dwmapi.dll' or 'IBFS32.DLL' using 'dir /b dwmapi.dll IBFS32.DLL' in those foldersAffected if Either dwmapi.dll or IBFS32.DLL exists in a directory that also contains .dwg files and is accessible to other users
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Verify DLL search path behaviorOpen a command prompt, change to a directory containing a .dwg file, then launch AutoCAD from that directory and monitor DLL loads using Process Monitor (filter by Path contains dwmapi.dll or IBFS32.DLL and Result is SUCCESS)Affected if AutoCAD loads dwmapi.dll or IBFS32.DLL from the current working directory rather than from the Windows system folder
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Check file permissions on .dwg directoriesRight-click the folder containing .dwg files, go to Properties > Security, and verify that untrusted users or the 'Users' group have Write or Modify permissionsAffected if Users other than administrators have Write access to directories containing .dwg files that AutoCAD opens
You are affected if AutoCAD 2010 is installed AND .dwg files are stored in directories where local attackers could place malicious dwmapi.dll or IBFS32.DLL files that AutoCAD would load upon opening those drawings.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRestrict AutoCAD execution to controlled directories, avoid opening .dwg files from untrusted or world-writable locations, and implement application whitelisting to block loading of unsigned DLLs from unexpected paths.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5241 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-5241 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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